Swords, Shields, and Maidens
by DragonsWillFly
Summary: Bethany is stuck in the Gallows and Marian tries to rectify the situation. A short two-shot set in the same verse as my other Dragon Age II stories. Takes place right before the story, 'The Tale of The Hero and The Champion.' Mentions Isabela/FemHawke relationship established. Rated 'M' for language.
1. Chapter 1

The Hanged Man is crowded when Marian finally enters the tavern. With a quick nod to the barkeep, Corff, she makes her way to her group's normal table. As she makes her way through the throng of lowlifes and run of the mill drunkards, the rogue feels her memories of a few hours ago flood her mind. Hawke had decided to enter the establishment in hopes that she would find her friends to help lift her from her current depression. She always felt a bit out of sorts when leaving the Gallows, after visiting day with her sister, and today seemed as if it was the worst day ever to have to leave her younger sister, Bethany, behind. She hated leaving her behind, but no matter how much she offered the templars or how much she threatened, Marian's pleas for her sister's release fell on deaf ears. The last conversation she had with the Knight-Commander echoed loudly in her head drowning out all the shouts and cheers as everyone took note that she was in the bar.

Suddenly a hand shoots out from a table and grasps her firmly around the wrist causing Marian to reach for her dagger, "Relax Sweet Thing, you nearly passed our table," Isabela says as she allows her hand to drop from Hawke's wrist to quickly grasp her hand and give a quick squeeze. "Here. You can sit beside me, you know I don't bite... well, I don't bite hard anyway," the pirate says with a wink causing a faint smile to dance upon the rogue's lips. As Marian sits down, she notices that everyone in their motley crew is in attendance at the pub.

"Hawke! I didn't think you were going to make it," Varric shouts, trying vainly to be overheard as the din from the next table reaches a crescendo. Staring at their leader, the dwarf raises an eyebrow and states, "You don't look so good Hawke."

"Well, thanks I guess... but coming from you, I would take that as a compliment. After all, we all know the sort of judgment you have when it comes to looks!" Hawke exclaims while the rest of the group bursts into laughter.

"Aww, Sweet Thing, don't tease Varric too much. You see, I have found out that the reason he dates women with as much hair on their face as Anders is because Bianca is jealous," Isabela purrs into the rogue's ear as her hand finds its home on Hawke's thigh.

"Why would a crossbow be jealous of a woman, Isabela?" Merrill asks as she looks at the pirate, "And Hawke, Varric is right, you do not look so well. Is it too hot in here?" the elf questions as she stares at the flustered woman.

"I think I can answer that one Merrill," Aveline says after taking a sip from her flagon of ale. "The local slattern believes that Varric's crossbow takes on human form during the night and would beat the poor dwarf senseless if he should ever look upon a woman who is prettier than said crossbow," the guard captain comments as she stands up and stretches. "And since that is the case, I shall leave your company before Bianca decides to come to life and beat the shit out of Varric." Smirking at the look she receives from Isabela, Aveline leaves before the rest of the group could remark on her comment.

"I think she got you that time, Rivaini."

"Shut up, Varric," Isabela snarls. Turning to face the rest of the group she states, "Does anyone else have anything to add? Fenris? Sebastian? Oh... I know you have something to say Anders, or at least I know Justice is just bursting to voice his opinion!"

The men stare at each other and shake their heads vigorously, hoping that their silence would quell the tempest rising in the pirate queen's emotions. "Good. I am sure that Nora would be obliged to not spend the rest of the night cleaning up the bloody mess that would be your remains if you did have something to add to Lady Man-Hands' retort." Isabela starts looking around the room, "Speaking of Norah... where is that wench? Hawke has been here for ten minutes now and she hasn't received her first flagon of ale."

"I am not exactly in the mood for the ale here tonight, Isabela, I just came to see you guys is all."

"Bullshit. You know you do not come to the Hanged Man just to spend time with us... you are always spending your time with us! You come to the Hanged Man to get spectacularly besotted and then pass out in a ditch. At least that is what I do anyway!"

"Did you visit the Gallows again today, Hawke?" Anders asks, ignoring the banter between their leader and the pirate wench.

"Yeah. I don't understand why Knight-Commander Meredith will not see reason! I mean, Bethany could never hurt anyone... well, maybe a darkspawn or a bandit, but an innocent? She would never!" Marian remarks. Her hand unconsciously drifts toward the dagger on the left side of her hip.

"Because she is a prude, Sweet Thing! I am sure if she didn't have a desert and cobwebs down there she would be more than happy to release every single mage in the Gallows and then would set about all of Thedas freeing mages from the terrible clutches of the Chantry," Isabela comments with a smile, then her eyes focus on a figure moving along the far wall of the main room. The pirate's smile grows larger as she lets out a shrill whistle. "There she is," she mutters before raising her voice to carry over the din, "Oi, Norah! Get your arse over here and take Hawke's order! She's been here for so long without so much as a sip of ale, that she almost mistook this bloody tavern for the Chantry!"

The serving woman nods her head quickly and barrels through a drunken sell-sword causing him to fall to the floor. "By the Dread Wolf... I have never seen that woman move so fast!" Merrill exclaims as she watches in delight as the woman jumps over an upturned chair without spilling a drop from the flagon of ale she is now currently setting in front of Marian. After the excitement of watching Norah traverse the crowded room in such a frenzy, Merrill remembers what she was going to say before, "I don't think she is a prude, Isabela." The pirate raises her eyebrow but allows the elf to continue. "She seems too sour of a personality to be a prude and besides, prudes are fruit. I don't think that the Knight-Commander is a fruit."

Varric, Hawke, and Isabela burst into a hearty laugh as Sebastian rolls his eyes and Anders covers his with his hands and groans softly. Fenris, ever the dark and broody elf that he is, stands, unsmiling, and clears his throat, "I think I have had enough company for one night. Hawke, if you need me for any quest I will be in my home, trying to figure out where Danarius has fled."

Sebastian stands up as well and offers to walk with Fenris. As the laughter finally disperses from the group, Varric sighs, "That's prunes, Daisy, not prudes."

"Oh..." the elfin mage ponders for a moment before speaking again, "Then what is a prude, Varric?"

The dwarf looks toward the rogue and the pirate, his face becoming as red as the Orlesian wine that he was drinking. "I will handle this one, Varric," Isabela says with a smile and leans over to whisper in the innocent mage's ear.

"So a prude is a... oh!" Merrill blushes profusely and clears her throat, "Then no... it is definitely not a fruit."

Marian laughs again as she watches the interaction between Isabela and Merrill, takes a large gulp of her ale and grimaces, "Damn. Does Corff always have to have the worst tasting ale in Kirkwall? I swear, I think drinking goat's piss would be better than drinking this swill!" Looking around, she realises that she missed the exit of Fenris and Sebastian and voices her concern, "What did we do now to offend those two?"

"For Sebastian to leave, I think it had to be Rivaini's comment about you mistaking the Hanged Man for the Chantry and as for Fenris..." Varric pauses to take a bite from the turkey leg that sat on his plate, "I think he left because we were laughing too much."

"Ah, well, they were not the reason I came here anyway. I will not change who I am just because they do not like a bit of fun," Marian replies as she snatches a hunk of bread off of the dwarf's plate and tears the tough, dark bread with her teeth.

"You know, I don't understand it," Isabela muses aloud, "They constantly spend time with us, yet they disapprove of everything we do. At least Man-Hands has finally warmed up to the notion of bending the laws a little bit, but those two..." the pirate sighs as she feigns heartache at the thought of the two men being upset by the antics of the rest of the crew.

"Well, I guess that means more food, drink, and bounty for us, yes?" Their leader states with a smile. Her eyes never straying from the pirate queen's cleavage after Isabela sighed.

"You do know that if you ever slighted them, they would be perfect allies for all of our enemies, right?" Anders says after taking a sip of water, staring wantonly at the flagons of ale, wine, and whiskey that littered the table in front of him.

"Is that Justice speaking, Anders?" Isabela quips as she stares at the apostate, "It has to be since he doesn't allow you to drink. Or is that the snivelling of some half-man, half-abomination who is afraid that things will fall apart around him and he will be found out for the monster he really is?"

Anders stands up quickly, causing his chair to fall to the hard wood floor with a clatter, "I am not an abomination! Within me resides the Spirit of Justice not some vile demon!" He points his finger in the direction of Merrill, "There sits your abomination! With the blood magic she weaves, it is a wonder that the veil to the Fade has not been torn asunder!" The apostate spins on his heel and storms out of the tavern, never once looking behind him to see if anyone would follow him.

"Well, that is the last of them," Hawke says with a smirk, "I was wondering how long it would take the rest of the crew to leave. Now I can finally tell you all what happened."

"I was wondering when you were going to tell us about your trip to see Sunshine," Varric states, "I thought I was going to have to knock a bolt into Anders before he took the hint! At least Aveline left in record time. I guess she already knew that we would go back to plotting, so she left before we made her leave!"

"Why would she stay? It's not like she ever gets her hands dirty when we are faced with the less than savoury tasks that we deal with from time to time," the pirate says with a roll of her eyes as she reaches, leaning heavily across Marian, for the bowl of cherries on the rogue's other side.

"That is true," the Fereldan states calmly, though her body craves to touch more of the woman who leans across her, "Aveline always had a knack of leaving when we have to break a few of Kirkwall's rules. So, of course, this would be no different. I can understand though, she is the guard-captain. If she were to be seen with us in some of the sorties we find ourselves in, she would lose her job."

"Yes,yes... we know that Aveline is too honourable to try to break into the Gallows to help us save Bethany," everyone looks at the young blood-mage in surprise. "I want to know how is Bethany, Hawke," Merrill questions. A smile crosses her face as she muses over the youngest of the Hawke siblings.

"She's fine, Merrill. She told me to tell you not to worry about her and that she misses you sorely," Marian says with smile, the shock of the elf's outburst slipping away as the seconds ticked on. She had noticed a few months ago that Merrill and her sister had been spending quite a bit of time together and was happy that her younger sister had found a strong friendship in the young elfin mage.

"So what did the Knight-Commander say this time, Sweet Thing?" Isabela asks though she already discerned the answer from her lover's facial expressions.

"Meredith said that it does not matter how many people Bethany has saved, the point of the matter is that she is a mage and mages should not be allowed freedom no matter how noble their hearts," Marian grits her teeth and seethes silently as she remembers the conversation that she had forgotten since sitting down at the table. "I had to beg to see her! After all that we have done for this bitch, I still do not have the privilege of seeing my sister for more than a candle mark a week! We need to get her out of there and soon."

The three other conspirators of their group nod their heads in agreement but none can think of an idea that would allow them to free the young Hawke. Sitting silently, they all turn their attentions to the flagons in front of them. Isabela with her strong whiskey from the Rivain, Hawke with her local ale. Varric motions for another cup of Orlais's finest wine as Merrill sips quietly on a less potent concoction of lemon water and triple filtered rum.

Finally, after several moments of silence, Varric clears his throat, "You know, Hawke, I was thinking. Did your parents ever tell you stories when you were a child?"

"That's an odd question, but yes, they did," the Fereldan rogue utters before taking another gulp of ale. "Okay, I can not stomach any more of this filth, Bela, can I have a drink from your flagon before my tongue falls out of my mouth from the taste of this horrid swill that sits before me?"

Isabela smiles seductively before downing the contents of her cup, "Well, I would have gladly allowed you to partake of my whiskey, but alas, it is all gone. But I do know something that can get that horrid taste from your mouth and it is also from the Rivain. Might I suggest you try it? It is in my room and is not very hard to find, we will be back within an hour's time or, at the latest, by mid-morning, maybe then we can come up with an idea on how to get Bethany out of the Gallows."

Isabela stands up and turns from the table with Marian following quickly behind her, the rogue's mind already imagining the clothes off the curvaceous pirate. "Ahem..." Varric glares at the two women, "If you two would just keep your hands off one another for a few minutes, maybe then I can tell you about my plan."

"You mention children's stories, Varric, how were we to know you were going to speak of a plan?" Marian mutters dejectedly as she sits back down on the bench.

Isabela slips into Hawke's lap and sighs with frustration, "Allright Varric, you have our attention. Now make it quick before Bianca needs a new owner."

"Thank you for your patience, Rivaini," Varric states sarcastically as he rolls his eyes. "Yes, I did mention children's tales. Do you recall what most of the stories were about?"

"Hmm, the usual I guess..." Hawke says as she thinks back to her childhood memories. "You know, a knight saving the fair maiden from a dreaded dragon or cruel tyrant. Or my favourite ones with pirates and treasure!" The rogue slips her arms around the woman in her lap and pulls her close.

"Ooo, I love those stories!" Isabela exclaims, her eyes flickering with excitement as she remembers the vast amounts of treasure she had obtained while she still captained _Siren's Call, _"Hawke, you really need to invest in a ship soon. I mean just think how many sovereigns you can earn if you had a ship!"

"Earn? When does anyone earn anything through piracy, Rivaini?" Varric questions, "Don't answer that. It was a rhetorical question. What I was trying to get at though is that most stories told to little children are about knights and maidens, correct? Correct. Now imagine yourself as a knight, Hawke, and your sister, the fair maiden. Now..."

"Eww!" The Fereldan shudders, "I am sorry, but I just can not picture that! I mean, do you remember what happened at the end of those stories? They were wed and lived happily ever after! That is just not what I need to imagine!" She shudders again.

"Focus Hawke!" The dwarf chides, "Let me lay out my plan before you decide to comment. As I was saying..." He looks at the two women in front of him, narrowing his eyes, waiting for either one to speak. When both stare back at the dwarf, he continues, "Okay, imagine that you are a knight and Bethany is a..." Hawke shudders again and grimaces, "Maiden that you do not live happily ever after with! What would you do? Would you ask the evil dragon or tyrant to let the maiden leave? Or would you scale the tower wall with your sword and shield strapped to your back and sneak in to rescue the damsel in distress?" Varric stares at Hawke for a few seconds, eyebrow raised, "Now is the time to speak, Hawke."

"Oh! Quite right..." the rogue blushes slightly and clears her throat before responding, "I would scale the walls of course! That is what a knight would do! And besides why would a knight in a children's tale ask if..." her eyes alight with understanding and a sly smile crosses her lips, "So tell me Varric, do you know a man who is willing to sell over a hundred metres of rope?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note: And here is the conclusion to Swords, Shields, and Maidens. The second part was completed last week, but I did not want to post both chapters up within the same day... have to keep some things secret, you know! As always, reviews are welcomed! **_

_**The Next Week...**_

"Hawke, of all the stupidest things that you have ever done in the years that I have known you, this one was the most... the most immature, ill-thought out plan that I have ever seen!" Aveline shouts as she slams the door to her office behind them, "Did the slattern put you up to this?" The redhead pauses and raises a hand in the air, "No, don't answer that, I don't want to know, honestly."

The guard-captain sits down in her chair behind her desk and shuffles the parchments on her desk. The papers were already sorted properly before she had entered the office, but the warrior needs any sort of distraction to keep her from staring at the extremely pissed off rogue in front of her. Shaking her head, Aveline takes off her gauntlets and flexes her fingers.

"Just stop Aveline..." Marian grumbles as she slouches in the chair in front of the desk, "I know what you are trying to do, so just stop and get on with it."

"Get on with what, Marian?"

"You know, just continue on the rant you were on before you closed the door, I know you want to. Tell me how much of an idiot I was for trying to free my sister from the Gallows. I know it will make you feel better and I know I would rather have you yelling at me rather than having you pretend to ignore me."

"Hawke..." the guard-captain starts but pauses for a few moments, her mind racing with all of the words that she wants to say to the leader of their motley crew, "you know that you are an idiot for this stunt. I mean did you even think that you would have succeeded in freeing Bethany by scaling the wall to the Gallows? What would have happened when you made it inside? There are hundreds of templars lurking about inside and out plus, there are countless mages who would have gladly ran and found a templar to tell of your exploits and where would that have led you?"

Marian shrugs her shoulders and stares at the rug on the marble floor, "I don't know."

The guard-captain shakes her head, "I know where it would have led you, it would have led you straight to Knight-Commander Meredith's quarters. And what would they do to Bethany if you two were caught? They would have..."

"They would have made her tranquil," Marian shouts, startling the normally stoic warrior in front of her, "I know what they would have tried to do. I am just sick and tired of constantly seeing my sister so depressed! If they so much as lay a hand on her, I will kill them and you know that. Yeah, I know I may not have been thinking clearly, but, Aveline, what do you expect me to do?" Hawke stares lividly at the woman in front of her, "I can not just sit back while my sister sits in the Gallows especially after all of this shit that is happening with these mages here in Kirkwall. I have to do something. I do not want to see her get hurt."

The rogue sighs and stares at the floor again. After a few moments, the guard-captain is shocked to see tears form in the corners of the eldest Hawke's eyes but says nothing, pretending not to notice the slight emotional breakdown in front of her. Once Aveline sees that Marian realises that she is crying and starts to furiously rub her eyes, does she speak, "I know, Hawke, none of us want to see Bethany get hurt, but she is in the safest place she can be for the moment. I know it may not seem that way, but she is. No one will harm her there as long as you continue to help the Knight-Commander and the First Enchanter, but they may not keep her safe if you continue with your antics."

"But Aveline, you know I have to protect her, she is the only family I have left," Hawke replies, her voice still raw from crying, "I never thought that it would only be just Bethany and myself. I thought that mother would always be around, but we can never tell what fate will bring now can we?"

The warrior shakes her head solemnly. It has been months since the matriarch of the Hawke family had been murdered, but it still hit her hard, like a fresh wound, when someone mentioned it. Leandra may not have been Aveline's real mother, but she made her feel as though she was part of the Hawke family after they first landed in Kirkwall, seven years ago. "I know Marian, but scaling the outer wall of the Gallows in broad daylight will not endear either one of you to the people who are keeping her the safest."

"I know."

"Now Marian, just be glad that it was me who saw you and calmed the templars down. If it were anyone else, they would not be as lenient as I am going to be with you. Ever since Wesley died and I came to Kirkwall with you and your family, you and Bethany have been like the sisters that I never had. I do not wish to see either one of you harmed over something as stupid as scaling a wall to help her escape. Also, did she..."

The wooden door to Aveline's office bursts open, "What do you think you are doing Aveline!" Isabela exclaims as she crosses the threshold, "I will have you know that whatever someone said that Hawke did, she didn't do it! She was with me the whole time of that I can assure you," a mischievous smile crosses her face, "I will even give you all of the sordid details if you would like."

"Bela..." Hawke starts but quickly stops when the pirate casts a sultry gaze in her direction.

"No Sweet Thing, do not stop me. I know I should never tell Big Girl here all of our secrets, but if it will keep your arse out of the dungeons, then I will tell her every detail of our night and day together." The swashbuckler walks across the room and leans against the armrest of the chair that Marian was sitting in and stares at the guard-captain, crossing her arms in the process, "We spent the whole night and day at the mansion in High Town making passionate..."

The red-haired warrior raises her hand, "I really do not want to know what you and Hawke do in your spare time, slattern. Besides I know it is all lies."

"But..." the pirate starts uncrossing her arms and leaning closer to the desk.

"I was the one who caught Hawke scaling the walls to the Gallows, Isabela," Aveline says with a smirk, "if you can think of a better eye-witness than me, then I suggest you try."

"You can't just throw Hawke into the dungeons just because she wants to save her sister!" Isabela proclaims disbelievingly, "After all the other shit we do on a daily basis, you would pick now to lock her up? I can't believe you Man-Hands, I really can't. And you say that Hawke is like a sister to you. You make me sick, why don't you just do us all a favour and get bent. Come on Sweet Thing, we are getting out of here!"

The pirate reaches for their leader's arm and starts to pull her out of the chair when the guard-captain clears her throat, "Did anyone say that I was putting Hawke in a dungeon? No, they didn't, but I was having a talk with her until you rudely interrupted," Aveline stares vehemently at the woman from Rivain until Isabela drops Marian's arm and settles back down onto her perch on the armrest. "Now, I want to make it clear to both of you, I do not want to catch you trying to break Bethany out of the Gallows, understand me? I know you put her up to it, Isabela. But..."

The pirate scoffs, "Me?! It wasn't me who made this suggestion, it was Varric. What with his talks of children's stories and all. I am a bit more subtle than that, Big Girl."

"Sure you are, that is why every man and quite a few women stop and openly gape at you when you walk by, but your whorish clothes are not the topic of discussion. What the topic is, however, is that you can not simply waltz right up to the Gallows and simply take Bethany out without the templars knowing. If you want to get your sister out, Hawke, you have to go through the right channels. Yes, it may take sometime, but Meredith is not an unreasonable person," Isabela scoffs again causing Aveline to glare at her, "as I was saying, the Knight-Commander is not an unreasonable person. I am sure, if you give it a rest, instead of continuously asking her day after day, she will release Bethany after she sees how innocent she really is. Give it a week Hawke and I promise you Meredith will lighten up a bit. Oh, and there is that bit of community service that you will have to do for me after the amount of shit that I just saved you from being in."

"What sort of community service?" Marian questions, her right eyebrow arches slightly as she stares at her friend.

"Oh, I will figure something out, after all, you know it will be a lot easier and less messy than the sort of work that the templars would want done. And before you even ask, yes, they do know what you tried to do. I told you that what you tried to do was idiotic." The guard-captain shuffles through the parchments on her desk again before looking up, "Now, you two are free to go. Unless, you have anything else you wish to add, whore?"

The rogue and the pirate both stand up from their seats and make for the door. Pausing slightly before following her lover out the door, Isabela smirks, "Why yes, I do have something to add Aveline."

The guard-captain stares at the swashbuckler with a bored look on her face, "Yes, Isabela?"

"I have often wondered about this," the pirate queen shakes her head, "it is silly, actually, but humour me if you will."

"Get on with it."

"Well, I have often wondered... why is Donnic so happily married with you? I mean, you seem to be a frigid stone of a woman who can barely open her legs unless there was some sort of fire in the vicinity of your nether regions, but he seems to be blissfully happy that he is married to you. Why is that? Is he spending most of his nights at the Blooming Rose?"

"Get. Out. Now. Whore." Aveline shouts as she stands up from her chair and slams her fists against the desk causing all of the parchments to flutter to the floor. Isabela runs out the door laughing hysterically and slams the door before the warrior could think to run after her.

"You did it now, love," Marian says with a smile as she runs after the dusky pirate. Once the two women reach the front door of the Vicount's Keep and step out into the evening air, Marian speaks again, "Why did you have to go and piss Aveline off like that, Bela?"

Isabela smiles and takes a deep breath to slow her breathing down, "Well, for two reasons Sweet Thing. First reason, Kitten told me that she was very pissed off and was basically dragging you towards the Keep and second reason, I love pissing her off even more!" The pirate reaches for Hawke's hand and squeezes lightly, "Now come on. I want to spend at least a few hours with you in your mansion before we meet up with Varric and Kitten at the Hanged Man."

Marian smiles devilishly while staring at the Rivaini woman beside her, "Now that is a plan I will definitely follow through!"


End file.
